50-MW Solar PV Power Plant Commissioned In India

I used to write about specific solar power plants nearly every week (or even several times a week). However, I’ve decided to leave such stories alone (there are so many of them) unless the power plant is really large (by solar standards) or very special in some other way.

50 MW is really large.

Furthemore, the solar power plant, which is located in Rajasthan (India) was completed in just 5 months!

The solar developer, Welspun Energy Limited, commissioned 15 MW earlier this year, and it has now completed the remaining 35 MW. Here are more details from Welspun:

This is the largest solar project to be developed by Welspun Energy till date and is also the largest PV power plant in India. The entire 50 MW solar project, located near Phalodi, Jodhpur District was developed in three phases of 15, 15 and 20 MW. The PV project will generate total electricity of 90 Mn kWh annually and supply clean energy to power 25 million families.

“Largest PV power plant” depends on how you categorize a power plant. A 600-MW solar power project was completed and commissioned in Gujarat, India back in early 2012. However, that is made up of separate solar projects (or “power plants”). Nonetheless, even those are 50 MW each.

India has had ambitious solar energy plans for awhile. It is now targeting 30 GW of additional solar capacity by 2017. To put that in perspective, about 30 GW of solar power capacity were added worldwide in 2011 and again in 2012. Nonetheless, solar is now cheaper than diesel in India, and the country has many people without electricity or with unreliable electricity. Even if India doesn’t hit its 30-GW target, it’s sure to add a lot of solar power in the coming years.

About the Author

Zach is the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular cleantech-focused website in the world, and Planetsave, a world-leading green and science news site. He has been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and he has been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, and wind energy since 2009.
Aside from his work on CleanTechnica and Planetsave, he's the founder and director of Solar Love, EV Obsession, and Bikocity.
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Wow. How embarrassing. This author should check his numbers before putting his articles to the public.

http://zacharyshahan.com/ Zachary Shahan

what numbers/mistake are you referring to?

Rab

Diesel is about 0.85kg/L and contains roughly 85% carbon. I kg of carbon produces (12+16X2)/12 or 3.67 kg of carbon-di-oxide. So, one litre diesel completely burnt will produce ~0.85X0.85X3.67 or 2.65 kg or carbon dioxide.
Now if a typical diesel generator produces 3kWh per litre, 1kWh would mean ~2.65/3 or 0.88kg of carbon dioxide.
1MW solar plant in Rajasthan, India can conceivably produce 1.8 million kWh per year. The author is right about that. That would save ~1.8 X 1,000,000 X 0.88 / 1000 metric tons or roughly 1,600 metric tons. For 50MW, it would be ~80,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide saved not ~80,000 MILLION metric tons.
The author is off by a factor of a million. Not bad considering that I see these kinds of astronomical billings all the time. Let’s hear from others as well.

http://zacharyshahan.com/ Zachary Shahan

Ah, from the quote… guess i can just pull that part of the quote. Wouldn’t be “correct” to correct it.